The Chicago Bulls Have Entered The Race For Kevin Love

Published 9:00 am, Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Details are sparse, the Bulls would likely need to send at least Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler to Minnesota, according to Stein and Windhorst.

The Bulls made a hard push for Carmelo Anthony at the beginning of the free agency period. When he rejected their offer and stayed in New York, Chicago went to a respectable Plan B. They signed Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic, and Mike Dunleavy, and used the amnesty provision to get Carlos Boozer off their salary cap.

Despite having only $2 million in cap room at the moment, the Bulls still have enough financial wiggle room to trade for Love.

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Love is owed $15.7 million in 2014-15. To acquire him in a trade, the Bulls would have to send ~$13.7 million back to Minnesota. Here are the potential chips they could use:

Taj Gibson ($8 million)

Nikola Mirotic ($5.3 million), can't be traded for 30 days

Jimmy Butler ($2 million)

Doug McDermott ($1.9 million) can't be traded for 30 days

Tony Snell ($1.4 million)

2015 1st-round pick

Sacramento's 2015 1st-round pick (top-10 protected)

Any combination of players that frees up $13.7 million in salary would work under NBA rules.

Even if we assume the Bulls are going all-in and are willing to part with Gibson and Butler (or the highly-touted Euroleague star Mirotic before he has even played a minute in the NBA), Cleveland still might be able to make Minnesota a better offer.

The Cavs can offer them the last two No. 1 picks — Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins — as well as bunch of future 1st-round picks (their own 2015 pick, Miami's 2015 pick, and a future Memphis pick).

If Cleveland opts to keep Wiggins and Minnesota has to look elsewhere for a trade partner, the trio of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Kevin Love would be a joy to watch.